26 You depend on your sword and do terrible things which I hate. Each of you has sexual relations with his neighbor’s wife. So should you have the land?’
27 “Say to them: ‘This is what the Lord God says: As surely as I live, those who are among the city ruins in Israel will be killed in war. I will cause those who live in the country to be eaten by wild animals. People hiding in the strongholds and caves will die of disease.
28 I will make the land an empty desert. The people’s pride in the land’s power will end. The mountains of Israel will become empty so that no one will pass through them.
29 They will know that I am the Lord when I make the land an empty desert because of the things they have done that I hate.’
30 “But as for you, human, your people are talking about you by the walls and in the doorways of houses. They say to each other: ‘Come now, and hear the message from the Lord.’
31 So they come to you in crowds as if they were really ready to listen. They sit in front of you as if they were my people and hear your words, but they will not obey them. With their mouths they tell me they love me, but their hearts desire their selfish profits.
32 To your people you are nothing more than a singer who sings love songs and has a beautiful voice and plays a musical instrument well. They hear your words, but they will not obey them.